Founder’s Message

Greetings to you!

I am delighted that you have decided to visit our website. I hope you like what you see and what we do because we love why we do it.

Many decisions are made and the youths are being left out. In our society, some youths have parents and friends who are not doing well. As a result, they do not know who to follow. What do they do? Can they depend on their community to be there for them?

It’s not just usI have found that it is not just us, the youths who yearn for a stronger connection with the community in which we live. Even parents and other older community members yearn to have a strong bond with their youths and the rest of the community. It is sad to live in a community in which you don’t hear the voice of the youths and what they are thinking about. How can you parent a child you don’t see or hear from? We need a place where we can connect with our community in order to feel a sense of belonging. A community that shows us love and listens to us.

Closing the gapThere is a gap between older members in our community and its youths. We the youths wish to learn from our elders and learn ways to maneuver through this life and network. I believe having a platform where we can teach each other and grow as a community will help to close the gap in which we do not bother to speak about in our everyday conversations.

Why an “edutainment” open mic?When I was living in St. Paul/Minneapolis, I met a lot of young people like me from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. When I asked them why they moved from Sioux Falls, they gave different reasons as expected, but their responses had one thing in common: “Sioux Falls does not have a sense of community.” I connected with the message. Instantly, I began thinking of a platform that would seek to grow as a community while providing one value…”edutainment” (education, art and entertainment).

After college, I decided to move back to start something that would become Our Growth Project to the city that gave me hope, Sioux Falls. I wanted to be part of the community that changed my life. Read my front page story in the Argus!

Our Growth Project strives to understand and connect with the youths while providing edutainment: education, art and entertainment to our community.

I want to personally thank you for visiting our website. I hope you can attend one of our open mics or get in touch with us to cooperate and bring our edutainment to your community.